The group behind Sound of Freedom has remained silent up to now on new allegations involving Tim Ballard, who’s portrayed within the film as a hero by Ardour of the Christ’s Jim Caviezel.
Ballard, founding father of the anti-child-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad, rose to new ranges of prominence this summer time when the movie changed into a sleeper hit that has grossed greater than $182 million domestically and $210 million worldwide.
On Monday, a Vice News report detailed nameless allegations in opposition to Ballard regarding his quiet exit in late June from O.U.R., which he launched in 2013. His departure got here as Sound of Freedom filmmaker Alejandro Monteverde and Angel Studios have been readying the movie for launch over the July Fourth vacation.
Ballard, a former Division of Homeland Safety official, launched into undercover abroad missions to battle little one trafficking upon beginning O.U.R. In response to Vice, he introduced girls to pose as his spouse on these missions and allegedly coerced them to share a mattress or bathe with him beneath the guise that these behaviors have been wanted to idiot little one traffickers.
Vice additionally reported that an O.U.R. worker who traveled with Ballard on an abroad mission filed a sexual harassment declare in opposition to him. Ballard has not responded on to the allegations and didn’t reply to THR’s request for remark.
Fillmaker Monteverde didn’t reply to a request for remark Monday. Neither did Angel Studios.
An O.U.R. spokesperson made the next assertion to THR, which learn partially, “Tim Ballard resigned from O.U.R. on June 22, 2023. He has completely separated from O.U.R. O.U.R. is devoted to combating sexual abuse, and doesn’t tolerate sexual harassment or discrimination by anybody in its group. O.U.R. retained an unbiased legislation agency to conduct a complete investigation of all related allegations, and O.U.R. continues to evaluate and enhance the governance of the group and protocols for its operations.”
Sound of Freedom’s efficiency on the field workplace was due partially to a grassroots marketing campaign from Angel that made audiences really feel as if they have been a part of a motion to assist finish little one trafficking. Screenings included a message on the finish from Caviezel by which he urged viewers members to make use of a Pay It Ahead service to purchase tickets for different moviegoers to see the film. Although the movie was mentioned on QAnon message boards, Angel and the filmmakers disputed it was a QAnon film, or that it was even political.
Ballard is an ally of Donald Trump, who hosted a non-public screening of the film in mid-July in New Jersey. Ballard in current days has floated the thought operating for Mitt Romney’s Senate seat when Romney’s time period ends.
In an Aug. 14 visitor column for The Hollywood Reporter, director Monteverde and co-writer Rod Barr wrote: “Everybody who has seen Sound of Freedom is aware of that the film itself is just not within the least political. It’s primarily based on the story of an actual individual, Tim Ballard, who stop his job at Homeland Safety to rescue trafficked kids. Within the improvement, analysis and writing of the story, we don’t recall a single dialog with Tim about politics. Why? As a result of private politics must be irrelevant when you’re rescuing kids from human trafficking.”
